I'm an ATi guy, so my preference is really a no-brainer. That being said, buying the HD 2900 XT really means buying into its ostensible potential (it's much like the same situation as with the PlayStation 3, for example; you're buying into potential). Aside from all the onboard amenities centered around a home theatre experience, you've also got several out-of-this-world technical advantages: incredible theoretical memory bandwidth, 320 'stream processors' (actual configuration is something like 64 shader processors with 5 universal processors in each), and great rendering power--power consumption notwithstanding. I can't directly cite where I've come across this, but the reason behind why this potential isn't used is because developers (of any type of software) do not take into consideration the unusual configuration of the shader units--they do no program proper distribution of shader workloads across all 320 units (compared to 128 units for the 8800 GTX), therefore you run into the uncomfortable, painfully PS3-reminiscent situation of unused potential going to waste. For the moment, an 8800 GTX is the practical leader in performance, which is hardly breaking news, but maybe your very inclined on the hidden capabilities the R600 has to offer--as well as a few advantageous performance surprises here and there.

On the flipside, it does overclock quite nicely on the 1GB GDDR4 version and it holds a few 3DMark world records, if you care.

Heh the 8800GTX is marketed as a dx10 card. aka a Vista card. Bioshock is marketed as a dx10 game. I'm seeing the 8800 literally walk all over the ATi card in dx10 and barely get beat in dx9. Not to mention it's gamespot.

yes it takes a big hit in DX10, but this could just be a driver issue that can be resolved.

It seems this card is gradually getting better and better in head to head tests.
Currently you can get an 2900XT 512mb shipped to your door in NS (14%) for $478. The cheapest 8800GTX I can find shipped was $625= $146 difference!!! This was an oc'd GTX though-600mhz.

While a topspec 2900XT 1gdDDR4 will be $570.

This makes things very interesting and a no-brainer for anyone using DX9.

I still think the 8800GTX is the better card at the moment. Even the 8800GTS can beat out the 2900XT in some stuff. Unless this has all changed recently.

Your buying the 2900XT hoping for better performance eventually. It has the technical specs but lacks driver support and game developer support. Just like the PS3. Game developers will mainly design for the largest market and I think NVIDIA holds that right now. Just like they design more so for XBOX360 over PS3. If ATI had got out before the 8800s, then it would have been a totally different story. However they did not.

I would buy whatever is currently the best. Not buying with hopes that it will get better. If you find other benchmarks from more known-hardware sites, showing the 2900XT doing better, then by all means get it. Gamespot is not a hardware site IMO. It's a game site.

Hey guys. Bioshock is definately not an indicator of performance from ATI OR nV, when run in Vista. There's a certian bios issues plauging these cards...and I have a sneaking suspicion that AMD themselves aren't even aware yet. Seems nV was tho... NExt time i wait a bit before buying my cards, and don't buy on release!

That being said tho, i did that wit hthe 8800's too...so few games worked that i returned tehm.

Well, same goes for vista and Crossfire/SLi...neither will work right in Vista until SP1, and the workaround that nV and ATI have been using merely similates performance, but does not render anything onscreen!(if you remember Crossfire first shown on NF4, same thing, rendering "worked", but no picture from second card.).

I had to go back to XP...so i could get use of my second card...jsut irked me to no end that i could not use second card in vista without LOSING performance....i thought an additional card would at least get another 10-15%...

I've restarted playing Biosshock form the beginnning, but this time in XP. It's like a completely different game....both visually, and in performance!

BTW, the new premiere machine from HP Gaming(AKA VoodooPC) features an nVidia 680i motherboard...running Crossfire! and you can bet that that bios issue is fixed, and that Crossfire is better on 680i than any other chipset currently...

I can't stand it...ATI fanboy, about to go buy an nVidia board For a Crossfire system. i think i'll order a Blackbird 002 system and suck the bios out of it too, and offer it up...anyone want it?